Sail edge securing fixture



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EDGE-sEcURmejFi-XTURE l Roger l?.r Joys and John E. .oys,`Whiteiish Bay, 41

l andv Arnold F. Meyer, Wauwatosa,-Wis., assignors to vJ oys Brothers Company, Milwaukee, Wis.,

. a'corporation of Wisconsin Application This -invention relates to `improvements in sail edge securing fixtures. l

In sail boats the mast and boom are both equipped with longitudinally extending tracks to slidably receive spaced apart brackets carried by the spaced apart portions of the adjacent edges of a sail. rlhis arrangement is necessitated by virtue of the yfact that the sail must be raised and lowered relative to the mast and must be susceptible of longitudinal movement relative to the boom. It is furthermore essential that besides the sliding movement permitted as between the tracks and the brackets the sail must be able to swing or flutter relative to the slide brackets. According to standard practice, the desired edge portions of a sail are attached to the slide brackets for the mast and boom tracks by means of heavy twine sewed through the bracket loops and interlaced with the strands of the rope binding on the sail edges. This construction required slow and tedious hand work in the securement of the twine loops and besides being relatively expensive because of the nature of the Work required, the sewed and interlaced twine connecting loops had a weakening eiect on the rope binding and on the sail because of being passed through the same.

With the above in mind, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide improved sail edge securing fixtures wherein the rope bound edge portions of a sail may be quickly and swingably secured to slide brackets by means of malleable clasps.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sail edge securing fixture wherein a malleable U-clasp is swingably embraced with a slide fixture and is clampingly engaged with a rope bound edge portion of a sail, eliminating the necessity for hand sewn twine connecting means and providing for a quickly applied and very secure attaching means which does not weaken or impair the sail edge.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sail edge securing fixture composed of two movably connected elements, one of which slidably engages a mast or boom track and the other of which clampingly engages a bound portion of a sail edge, both of said elements being connected together so as to permit pivotal movement of one relative to the other in several directions.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sail edge securing fixture which can be assembled, applied and secured to the respective portions of a mast and sail very expeditiously and easily.

February 17, issaserial No. 256,972: Ziolaim. (o1. 11i- 112) A further object ofthe invention is to'provide a sail edge securing fixture which is of very simple construction, is inexpensive to manufacture and install, is strong and durable, which permits vthe desired lmovements of a sail relative toa mast and boom, and which is well adapted for the purposes described.

With the above and other objects in view, the inventionconsists of the improved lsail edge securing xture, and its parts and combinations as set forth in the claim, and all equivalents thereof.

In the accompanying drawing, in which the same reference characters represent the same parts in all of the views:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side view of a sailboat mast having a sail slidably attached thereto by means of the improved sail edge securing fixtures;

Fig. 2 is a detail cross-sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a detail vertical sectional view through the track on a Imast and showing the applied iiXture in longitudinal section.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, it will appear that the numeral 5 designates the mast of the sailboat to which a sail 6 has its inner edge slidably and swingably secured. The means for securing the inner edge of the sail 6 which has the usual rope binding 1, comprise a plurality of the improved sail edge securing fixtures designated generally by the numerals 8. Each of the iixtures comprises two pivotally joined elements including a slide bracket 9 and a malleable U-clasp I0.

The sail boat mast 5 is provided with a flanged vertical track II of the usual form. The opposed iianges of the track are outwardly offset from the surface of the mast and the track is Secured to the mast by screws I2 having their head portions lodged within the central recess of the track. Each slide element of a fixture 8 is provided with opposite grooved or recessed flanges I3 to slidably embrace the side flanges of the track I I. The medial portion of the slide bracket is of curved formation and offset outwardly. Through opposite walls of said curved portion, openings are formed to provide an outwardly curved strap I4. The inner face of the strap, where it meets the stock of the xture, is curved on a suitable radius as at I5.

The clasp element I0 of a fixture is formed of malleable metal and is U-shaped. Initially its jaw or arm portions are relatively widely spread. A clasp element is assembled with a slide bracket 9 by passing an arm of the clasp through the openings in a slide bracket until the mid-portion of the clasp embraces the strap I4 of the slide bracket as shown in the drawing. The rope bound edge portion of the sail is then inserted between the spread jaw portions of the malleable clasp and is registered with the rounded portions of the same, as best shown in Fig. 2. By means of a suitable tool, the jaws of the clasp are then forced toward one another and into tight clamping engagement with the rope bound edge portion of the sail edge. The small prongs I8 on the inner facesv of said portions of the clasp bite into the rope and fabric and additionally aid in effecting a secure engagement of the clasp with the sail edge. f

Obviously a number of said fixtures may be applied at suitably spaced points to edge portions 1 2,245,677 f f m tionally have a limited vertical pivotal movement relative to the slide bracket.

'I'he improved sail edge securing fixtures are inexpensive to manufacture and furthermore may be assembled and applied to a sail edge much more quickly and effectively, and at a lesser cost than was possible with the old types of sail edge securing means. The xtures are furthermore of simple and novel construction and are well adapted for the purposes set forth.

What is claimed as the invention is:

A sail edge securing fixture, comprising aslide bracket for s1idably mounting on a track, said bracket having an outwardly offset curved strap with an opening adjacent the strap, the ends of the strap also being curved to provide curved boundaries for said opening, and a U-shaped malleable clasp, transversely curved and medially of the sail. The slide brackets 9 are free to move longitudinally on the track Il in the usual manner and the sail 6 is, therefore, slidably mounted by these fixtures to the mast track. In addition, each clasp element I0 is free to pivot in a horizontal plane relative to the strap I4 of its slide bracket 9. vAlso, because of the inner convex surface Il of the medial portion of the clasp and because of the enlarged openings in the bracket having rounded portions adjacent the ends of the strap Hl, each clasp can addiengaged by the outwardly offset curved strap, the clasp being limitedly horizontally and vertically pivotally movable on said strap, the outer ends of the arms of said clasp being formed with prongs whereby the ends of said arms may clampingly embrace and bite into only a rope bound edge portion of a sail.

ROGER E. J OYS. JOHN E. JOYS. ARNOLD F. MEYER. 

